Breather assembly for a sealed container

ABSTRACT

A breather assembly for a sealed container such as a bedside drainage bag comprising a breather element of woven fiberglass fabric material with a teflon coating adapted to permit free passage of gas therethrough and to resist passage of liquid therethrough. The breather element also acts to filter out bacteria in the air to thus prevent its entrance into the container. The breather element is mounted in a circular opening in a retaining ring member and permanently retained therein by a pair of outer housing members sealed by electronic welding to the retaining ring member. The assembly is then mounted in the wall of a container such as a bedside drainage bag with the breather element positioned in alignment with a flow opening in the wall of the container.

United States Patent [72] lnventor James L. Clark Milwaukee, Wis.

[54] BREATHER ASSEMBLY FOR A SEALED 3,429,314 2/1969 Ericson 3,439,6774/1969 Bonfils Primary ExaminerCharles F. Rosenbaum Attorneys-John W.Michael, Gerrit D. Foster. Bayard H.

Michael, Paul R. Puerner, Joseph A. Gemignani, Andrew 0. Riteris andSpencer B. Michael ABSTRACT: A breather assembly for a sealed containersuch as a bedside drainage bag comprising a breather element of wovenfiberglass fabric material with a teflon coating adapted to permit freepassage of gas therethrough and to resist passage of liquidtherethrough. The breather element also acts to filter out bacteria inthe air to thus prevent its entrance into the container. The breatherelement is mounted in a circular opening in a retaining ring member andpermanently retained therein by a pair of outer housing members sealedby electronic welding to the retaining ring member. The assembly is thenmounted in the wall of a container such as a bedside drainage bag withthe breather element positioned in alignment with a flow opening in thewall of the container.

llltll tlEA'llllllEll t ASSEMBLY FOR A SEALED CONTAINER BACKGROUND OFINVENTION 1. Field of Invention This invention relates to a breatherassembly for a closed container and more particularly to a speciallydesigned breather assembly for use in a bedside drainage bag of the typeused in a closed catheter system.

2. Description of Prior Art In a so-called closed catheter system, thecatheter is adapted to be passed through the urethra into the bladder ofa patient and when so positioned forms an essentially closed or airtightsystem with respect to the drainage bag used to collect the liquidflowing from the patient. Drainage bags of the type used in such asystem are generally made from a plastic material and when put into usethere is generally little or no air in the bag at the beginning of thedrainage operation. Thus, as drainage of liquid into the bag occurs theflexible walls of the bag will be bulged outwardly thereby increasingthe volume of air space inside the bag. This expansion of the bag in aclosed system will tend to create a vacuum within the system whichcondition may be very detrimental to the user due to the possibility ofresultant serious injury to the bladder. It is important, therefore,that some means be provided to prevent such a vacuum condition fromoccurring in the patient's bladder. The purpose of this invention,therefore, is to provide an improved breather assembly for a drainagebag which permits the free flow of air into the bag and at the same timeresists the flow of liquid out of the bag. Another object is to.

provide a breather assembly which functions to filter bacteria out ofthe air flowing into the bag.

A further object of this invention is to provide a breather assemblywhich can be produced economically on a mass production basis.

Other objects and advantages will be pointed out in, or be apparentfrom, the description which follows and in the appended claims.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION A breather assembly for a sealed containercomprising a breather element adapted to permit free passage of gastherethrough and to resist passage of liquid therethrough. Such elementalso filters bacteria from the air flowing therethrough. Such assemblyfurther includes a breather element retaining ring having a breatherelement retaining opening therethrough adapted to receive said breatherelement therein. Said ring is preferably made from a nonporous plasticmaterial. The assembly further includes a pair of housing members alsoof nonporous plastic material positioned on opposite sides of saidbreather element and sealed to said retaining ring to thereby retainsaid breather element in said breather element retaining opening. Suchhousing members each have at least one opening therethrough positionedopposite said breather element to thus permit free passage of airthrough the assembly. A further characteristic of the assembly is thatthe openings in the housing members are substantially concentric withthe breather element and of smaller cross-sectional area than saidelement so that the housing members will overlie the breather element inthe area immediately surrounding said openings in the housing members.The breather element is adhered to the housing members in the areaswhere the housing members overlie the breather element to therebyprevent any tendency of liquid to flow around the edges of the breatherelement when in assembled position.

DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS FIG. l is a perspective view of a bedsidedrainage bag incorporating the present invention;

HO. 2 is a fragmentary sectional view of the breather assembly of thisinvention taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the breather assembly only, prior to itsincorporation into the drainage bag; and

FIG. 4 is an exploded view showing the various components of thebreather assembly.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now to the drawings indetail, FIG. I shows a bedside drainage bag I0 designed for use in aclosed catheter system. Bedside drainage bag 10 is preferably made fromtwo sheets of polyvinyl chloride plastic 12, 14 which are sealed to eachother around the peripheral edges thereof as at 16 preferably by anelectronic welding procedure to provide a sealed container.

The drainage bag is provided with an inlet fitting 118 having a tube 20connected thereto for conducting the flow of fluid into the bag. Fittingl8 and tube 20 are also preferably made from polyvinyl chloridematerial. Attached to tube 20 is a socalled retention" type catheter(not shown) of any suitable design.-

The bag 10 is also provided with a drainage assembly 22 designed forperiodically draining the bag of its contents. The drainage assembly 22does not form a part of this invention, and, therefore, a detaileddescription of such assembly will not be made herein. The bag 10 is alsoprovided with a supporting cord 24 for hanging the entire unit on therail of a hospital bed.

The catheter attached to tube 18 is adapted to be passed through theurethra into the bladder of a patient and when so positioned forms anessentially closed or airtight system with respect to the drainage bagIt). Plastic drainage bags of the type shown herein when put into useare generally in a flat condition with the walls 12 and 14 thereof inclose contact with each other. Thus, when the bag is put into use thereis generally little or no air in the bag at the beginning of thedrainage operation.

It will be appreciated, therefore, that as drainage of liquid throughtube l8 into the bag occurs the flexible walls of the bag will be bulgedoutwardly thereby increasing the volume of air space inside the bag.This expansion of the bag in a closed system will tend to create avacuum within the system which condition may be very detrimental to theuser due to the possibility of resultant serious injury to the bladder.It is essential therefore that some means be provided to prevent such avacuum" condition from occurring.

Such a means is provided by a specially designed breather assembly 26mounted in the upper portion of the bag as shown in FIG. ll. As will beexplained thereinafter, breather assembly functions to allow freepassage of air in and out of bag 10 while at the same time prevents flowof liquid therethrough under normal circumstances. The breather assemblyalso functions to filter out bacteria from the air flowing into the bagto prevent such bacteria from reaching the patients bladder.

As shown in FIG. 4, the breather assembly is comprised of four majorcomponents namely a filter element 28, a filter element-retaining ring30 and a pair of outer housing members 32 and 34.

Filter element-retaining ring 30 (preferably of polyvinyl chloridematerial) is of circular shape and has a central filterelement-retaining opening 36 therein.

The breather element 28 is preferably made of a material comprised of awoven fiberglass fabric with a teflon coating, which material is adaptedto freely allow the passage of air therethrough while, at the same time,resisting the passage of liquid therethrough. Such material alsofunctions to filter out bacteria in the air flowing therethrough. Thebreather material, however, is not subject to electronic welding as isthe polyvinyl chloride material used in the other parts of the drainagebag.

The breather element 28 is of circular shape having a diameter slightlyless than that of the breather-retaining opening 36 in ring member 30.It is also noted that the thickness of breather element 28 is alsoslightly less than the thickness of retaining ring 32. This means, ofcourse, that the breather element 28 will fit within thebreather-retaining opening 36 when the parts are in assembled positionas shown in FIG. 3.

The outer housing members 32 and 34 are also comprised of nonporousflexible material such as polyvinyl chloride having the characteristicsof receiving an electronic weld. Housing members 32 and 34 are providedwith centered openings 38 and 40 of smaller diameter than that ofbreather element 28. The breather assembly is completed as shown in H0.3 by positioning breather element 28 in retaining opening 36 and thencompleting the assembly by positioning housing members 32 and 34 onopposite sides of retaining ring 30 with openings 38 and 40concentrically arranged with respect to breather element 28. Thebreather element 28 is permanently retained in the assembly by acircular electronic weld as indicated by reference numeral 42. As shownin FIGS. 3 and 4, weld 42 extends around the outer periphery of breatherelement 28 and provides a continuous seal between housing members 32, 34and the retaining ring 30.

As indicated previously, the material of breather element 28 is notsusceptible to electronic welding, however, the heat and pressureproduced by weld 42 will cause the inner faces of housing members 32 and34 which overlie breather element 28 to become adhered to the adjacentfaces of breather element 28 in the areas indicated by referencenumerals 44 and 46. Such adhesive areas will serve to securely seal thebreather element 28 in the overall assembly to thus prevent any tendencyof liquid to flow around the edges of the breather element in thecompleted assembly.

As described, the breather element 26 can be completely subassembledindependently of the drainage bag thus lending itself to mass productionmethods of manufacturer. After it has been subassembled as shown in FIG.3, it can then be readily mounted in the front face 12 of the drainagebag 10 by first cutting a circular flow opening 48 in front face 12 andthen electronically welding the breather assembly to the front face 12by means of an electronic weld indicated by reference numeral 50 inFIGS. 1 and 2.

The breather assembly 26 thus assembled in the bag 10 functions topermit the free passage of air from the atmosphere into the inside ofthe bag as the bag expands due to flow of fluid therein through tubefrom the patient. Thus, any tendency of a vacuum to be created in theclosed system will be alleviated. Also as indicated previously, breatherassembly 26 functions to filter out bacteria in the air flowing into thebag. It will also be appreciated that any tendency of liquid inside thebag to flow out through the breather element will be prevented. This maybe a problem when handling the filled bag for drainage thereof of forother reasons.

Although but one embodiment of the present invention has beenillustrated and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that various changes and modifications may be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention or from the scope of theappended claims.

lclaim:

l. A breather assembly for a sealed container comprising:

a breather element adapted to permit free passage of gas therethroughand to resist passage of liquid therethrough, said breather elementcomprising a woven fiberglass fabric having a Teflon coating thereon;

a breather element-retaining ring having a breather element-retainingopening therethrough adapted to receive said breather element therein,said ring being made from nonporous plastic material; and

a pair of housing members positioned on opposite sides of said breatherelement and sealed to said retaining ring to thereby retain saidbreather element in said breather element-retaining opening, saidhousing members being made from nonporous plastic material and eachhaving at least one opening therethrough positioned opposite saidbreather element.

2. A breather assembly according to claim 1 in which said breatherelement is circular in shape and said openin in said retaining ring isalso circular in shape and has a rameter slightly greater than saidbreather element.

3. A breather assembly according to claim 2 in which said housingmembers are sealed to said ring by a continuous circular weld positionedslightly beyond the outer periphery of said breather element.

4. A breather assembly according to claim 3 in which said openings insaid housing members are circular and are substantially concentric withsaid circular breather element and of smaller diameter than said elementso that said housing members will overlie said breather element aroundsaid circular openings in said housing member, said breather elementbeing adhered to said housing members in the areas where the housingmembers overlie said breather element.

5. A breather element according to claim 1 in which the thickness ofsaid breather element is slightly less than the thickness of saidbreather element-retaining ring.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Certificate Patent No. 3,57 5,17 0 PatentedApril 20, 1971 James L. Clark Application having been made by James L.Clark, the inventor named in the patent above identified, andPlastronics, Inc., Milwaukee, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin, theassignee, for the issuance of a certificate under the provisions ofTitle 35, Section 256, of the United States Code, adding the name ofFrank K. Villari as a joint inventor, and a showing and proof of factssatisfying the requirements of the said section having been submitted,it is this 22nd day of October 1974, certified that the name of the saidFrank K. Villari is hereby added to the said patent as a joint inventorwith the said James L. Clark.

FRED W. SHERLING, Associate Solicitor.

1. A breather assembly for a sealed container comprising: a breatherelement adapted to permit free passage of gas therethrough and to resistpassage of liquid therethrough, said breather element comprising a wovenfiberglass fabric having a Teflon coating thereon; a breatherelement-retaining ring having a breather elementretaining openingtherethrough adapted to receive said breather element therein, said ringbeing made from nonporous plastic material; and a pair of housingmembers positioned on opposite sides of said breather element and sealedto said retaining ring to thereby retain said breather element in saidbreather element-retaining opening, said housing members being made fromnonporous plastic material and each having at least one openingtherethrough positioned opposite said breather element.
 2. A breatherassembly according to claim 1 in which said breather element is circularin shape and said opening in said retaining ring is also circular inshape and has a diameter slightly greater than said breather element. 3.A breather assembly according to claim 2 in which said housing membersare sealed to said ring by a continuous circular weld positionedslightly beyond the outer periphery of said breather element.
 4. Abreather assembly according to claim 3 in which said openings in saidhousing members are circular and are substantially concentric with saidcircular breather element and of smaller diameter than said element sothat said housing members will overlie said breather element around saidcircular openings in said housing member, said breather element beingadhered to said housing members in the areas where the housing membersoverlie said breather element.
 5. A breather element according to claim1 in which the thickness of said breather element is slightly less thanthe thickness of said breather element-retaining ring.